Rubber Band Contest Challenges Youngsters

Middle-school students nationwide are challenged to stretch their imaginations to design and create an invention made with rubber bands for the first Rubber Band Contest for Young Inventors.

Fifteen semifinalists will be chosen in this national competition. From this group, three finalists will be honored at The University of Akron on Feb. 14, 2009, when the top prize winner will be announced at a special ceremony. The grand-prize winner will receive a $10,000 savings bond, and the second- and third-place winners will receive $5,000 and $2,500 savings bonds, respectively. Each finalist’s teacher or mentor will receive a $500 gift card. The 12 remaining semifinalists each will receive a $50 gift card.

To enter the contest, students should submit a completed official entry form; a sketch of the invention; and an essay of 1,000 words or less explaining the invention’s use, how it works, its need or benefit to society and how the idea for the invention was formed. The deadline for entries is Nov. 14, 2008. Complete contest entry rules and details are available here.